Dr Who: a guide to the Daleks

The Daleks were introduced to Doctor Who audiences in 1963 in an episode titled The Dead Planet, in which the Doctor and his companions arrived on their battle-ravaged planet, Skaro. Daleks see through their eye-stalk, and are armed with a ray gun and the most powerful multi-purpose tool in the universe: a bathroom plunger.

Almost 80,000 diehard Doctor Who fans pounced and watched the episode, titled Asylum of the Daleks, on Sunday. That is a record for the iView site, clocking the most plays by one program in a 24-hour period since its launch.

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That number probably represents only 10 to 15 per cent of its total potential TV audience, but the move is significant because it effectively closes the window on online piracy.

Research shows the period in which content (films, music and TV) is vulnerable to piracy is the period between when it launches internationally and when it launches in local markets.

By making Doctor Who available to its viewers immediately after it airs in Britain, the ABC is effectively circumventing any inclination fans might have to download it from an unlicensed source.

The episode was significant because it featured the return of the show's iconic villains - the Daleks - and because it featured several different types of Dalek, from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

Because of that, the episode's debut was preceded by a massive global marketing campaign. The ABC's bold strategy effectively unlocked enormous value from the global marketing machinery behind the show.

Most commercial networks now "fast track" key overseas programs because of pressure from viewers and the fear of losing audiences to online downloading, but they tackle it with varying levels of enthusiasm and success.

The commercial broadcasters usually announce their fast-tracking plans closer to the launch of the US season, typically around September or October.

One of the biggest hurdles in getting TV network programmers to back strategies such as these is the long-held belief that any support for online playback would discourage TV use.

But that position - which is, incredibly, still expressed behind closed doors in many network offices - is increasingly looking archaic.

It is also fuelled by a philosophy of subtraction - that is, any viewer not watching via a traditional TV set is a set of eyeballs considered lost.

Most blue-chip international broadcasters, such as the BBC and the US free-to-air networks NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox, are increasingly adopting a philosophy of addition - that is, audiences viewing programs on any platform are considered part of a cumulative total.

The ABC's 75,900 Doctor Who "views" on iView will not realistically damage the episode's broadcast potential.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that many of those iView-ers would have downloaded the program via bit torrent networks anyway, and that many will still watch the TV broadcast in order to participate in so-called "second-screen" activity, such as interacting on Twitter and Facebook, in real time.

By drawing them to iView, the ABC is able to encourage the habit of watching programs from licensed broadcasters, and also exposes them to the broadcaster's slate of other content.

The ABC iView record set by Doctor Who is for most plays in a 24-hour period. The previous record-holder was the debut of Angry Boys, but the ABC points out that the iView system is now available on multiple platforms, making direct comparisons difficult.

118 comments

Wow congratulations ABC I can only imagine the hurdles they had to jump to get that approved by the naysayers. If only the big networks would sit up take notice and act. C7 & C9 are holding back programs each and everyday and forcing interested viewers to download or import from Amazon just so they can watch a program of interest. This sitting on hands and lack of innovation is hurting the industry that we all rely on to provide insightful and entertaining TV programs.

Commenter

onthebox

Location

Sydney

Date and time

September 03, 2012, 2:24PM

OK, agreed, a step in the right direction. To me, though, the elephant in the room is this: why do we have to wait at all on TV ? It's not like we have to transport reel to reel films or anything from Britain to Oz. The technology is there to show it on TV in Britain and Oz on the same day... or have I missed something obvious ?

Commenter

Doctor Now ?

Location

Date and time

September 03, 2012, 4:07PM

I watched this last night, but did not realise it was a new feature. Since abc launched iView on iPad and sbs has "on demand" I stopped downloading torrents altogether. If they can make it work commercially, good on them.

Commenter

Tom

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

September 03, 2012, 4:57PM

@Dr Now.

In a single Government world you are spot on. But given we are still in a multi national system then a hour delay is probably quite fair for download from BCC and upload on iView.

Commenter

Adam C

Location

Perth

Date and time

September 03, 2012, 5:03PM

Doctor Now - London is currently 9 hours behind Sydney/Melbourne, so we got it immediately after it aired in the UK.

Commenter

Katie

Location

Date and time

September 03, 2012, 8:44PM

@Doctor Now?It's not quite that simple - the TV networks can't just download a file and press play. The standards for a broadcast master are much higher than that. They may not be film reels, but even now TV shows are usually distributed in a physical format, or if not are huge amounts of data to deal with. And even after they get the content they have to verify the video is problem free, get it classified, schedule ad breaks, import it to their playout system and verify it's problem free again before they can even think of putting it on air.

Note that in the past, the commercial networks have "fast-tracked" some shows to air the same day as their original release - but usually as a separate and inferior version to the "encore" play some days later. The latter is usually available in high definition, etc., whereas the former is an overcompressed satellite feed they've tried to make do with. Of course it's entirely possible to beam in high quality content in real time - but it's VERY expensive and it's a price the networks have simply proven unwilling to pay for. Even then, they need to go through their usual processes, it's not the same as live events.

This doesn't apply so much to online streaming because the standards for iView are not terribly high anyway.

Commenter

The Mike

Location

Brisbane

Date and time

September 03, 2012, 11:31PM

So I told my 8year old that it was on.. and she promptly watched it on iView then told me it was 'boring' :/

Commenter

grant

Location

melbourne

Date and time

September 03, 2012, 2:26PM

Kids today have no class!

It's ok just wait for the big monster eps and make her watch it in the dark... alone :D

Commenter

RocK_M

Location

I want chinese take-away!

Date and time

September 03, 2012, 4:37PM

My four year old is a budding Whovian. The three year old, not so much!

Commenter

Peter71

Location

Date and time

September 03, 2012, 5:53PM

Dr Who isnt to my taste either but it is a great forward looking move by the ABC.The commerical networks in Australia have a lot to answer for in recent years. The coverage of the Olympics games by Ch. 9 was the last straw for me. The ABC's coverage of the Paralympics is excellent.